Sol System Chapter 13

Vanessa was sweating, she didn’t like to sweat, it reminded her of a bad memory. However, Happy hour made this place get busier then the strippers that needed “a little extra for rent”. She was filling drink orders as fast as she could take them, and yet still somehow she was being treated like she was falling behind. She heard the fourth broken glass of the night land behind the bar, she had at this point forgone sweeping and proceeded to drop a towel on the ground and kick the mess out of the way as she took another order. She turned quickly as an unfriendly hand gripped her arm.

“Heyive been waitn iwonmy drin…” The rest was a garbled mesh of drunken incoherency, this valued patron had obviously received his fill for the night, and Vanessa politely removed his hand, and then motioned the club’s bouncer towards him. This club could get wild, but it had lines, the first line being touching. She had almost forgotten about the scruffy man by the time she heard his drunken ramblings once again, this time shouting at the bouncer. It had only taken a few seconds for the bouncer Earl to get to the overindulged drunk, but her mind was moving so fast to keep up that her shift in attention drew out the time. Normally the 6’6” Earl had little trouble removing anyone from the premises, and while this man had the slightly stout build of someone who did manual labor but didn’t take care of themselves; it was his rowdiness that made him difficult. As Early began to drag him out, the drunk’s kicks and flays began to hit the bar and the other patrons, the people trying their best to give space, but the crowded area gave little, and a tension began to grow.

Vanessa still barley noticed the commotion as she walked by behind the bar, unfortunate enough to time her passing with a violent kick from the drunk; he hit a heavy glass stein on the bar and sent it flying, clipping Vanessa and still having enough force to shatter against the opposing wall. Vanessa fell into the shards of glass. Good portions of the club now focus on the events of the bar, even over the loud music. Earl threw the drunk against the bar for a moment, and then leaned over to check on Vanessa, asking loudly about her status.

Vanessa heard none of it though, the deafening noises had become a background static to the sound of her beating heart, her eyes saw blood red as the gash in her head bled into her eye, she looked at her hands, one had glass stuck in it, she pulled it out, and once again had blood on her hands. For the slightest moment she didn’t know where she was, her eyes saw a bar In ganamyde city, but her mind saw a monster’s apartment in New York, a body in front of her, its white robe separated from the white carpet by blood. She looked upward in a panic, trying to lose the vision, but the drunk leaned over the bar, mouthing that she should have just given him what he wanted, but in her mind she saw John States, telling her how he got everything he wanted. Telling her about he would get away with everything because of the deal he made, and brushing off the fact that he had tricked her into helping him do it.

But the moment could not be changed, the events could not be rewritten, and so like on she did on Earth, Vanessa picked up the first thing next to her, this time not a heavy trophy like she now remembered, this time a handful of glass. She pounced the drunk in frenzy, the crowd parted like splash. Vanessa didn’t just punch with the glass that cut her hand as much as his face, she choked him with her free hand, she used the leverage on his neck to bash his head into the floor, she screamed about events and names that only made sense to her. It was only a moment to the crowd, but a lifetime to her that she once again took out her revenge against a man dead two planets away. Earl had grabbed her as soon as he could, trying to keep the glass hand still and hold her back, as scarred for her as he was of her. It wasn’t until Amber had leapt off the stage and ran to her that anyone got through to Vanessa. Amber held her face between gentle hands, ignoring the kicks and flails; she told her it was ok, that whatever she was thinking of was over. Vanessa stopped shouting as her tear soaked eyes locked with Amber’s, she stopped fighting Earl’s grip, she went limp, and Amber kept eye contact as Earl carried her into the back and set her on the tile floor of the kitchen. Amber said nothing; she sat with her friend curling against her, holding Vanessa until she was ready to stop crying.